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Marie Laurencin1885–1956

Artist biography

Marie Laurencin 1885-1956

French painter, designer, illustrator, etcher and
lithographer. Born in Paris. Studied at the Académie Humbert, where Braque was a fellow pupil. Met Picasso, André Salmon and Apollinaire; influenced by Picasso and Matisse, and began to paint pictures mainly of sloe-eyed girls in a decorative,
arabesque-like style. Painted 'Apollinaire, Picasso and their Friends' 1909. Though never a true Cubist, was included at Apollinaire's request in the first group manifestation of Cubism at the Salon des Indépendants 1911. First one-woman exhibition
at the Galeries Barbazanges, Paris, 1912. Spent 1914-20 in Spain and Germany, then returned to Paris. Illustrated a number of books with etchings, lithographs or watercolours; also designed sets and costumes for the ballet and the theatre, including
Diaghilev's Les Biches in 1924, and dresses and textiles for the couturier Poiret, etc. Died in Paris.

Published in:Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British
Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.409